ABSTRACT
Higher education’s involvement in the direct development of local communities has a complicated history. This chapter shows the increasing comfort level and cooperation between higher education and community economic development (CED). Higher educational institutions often respond by reminding critics that their role is to serve tuition-paying students, and in the case of research institutions, to serve as important institutions of learning and investigation. Higher education partnerships fall into four categories: developer, building community capacity, knowledge building, and trainer. Many are beginning to realize that institutions of higher education are beginning to gain more mileage out of community partnerships than are communities. The Neighbors Working Together project focused on building community capacity through leadership workshops. CED partnerships between higher education and communities are based on relationships, and universities must ensure that any effort incorporates the needs and desires of neighborhood residents.
